


Confessions

by Shigure_Natsu



Series: Post-canon Captive Prince [1]
Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Love Confessions, M/M, Post-Canon, Post-Kings Rising, Summer Palace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-03
Updated: 2016-12-03
Packaged: 2018-09-06 07:40:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8740804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shigure_Natsu/pseuds/Shigure_Natsu
Summary: Laurent and Damen go to the Summer Palace. Love confessions happen.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was written in April, right after I finished the whole series in a week and was so frustrated by the lack of confession I felt the mighty need to write it myself. For the record, this never happens. 
> 
> So, I guess this is my version of the Summer Palace. Featuring my favorite headcanon at the end.
> 
> Also, dialogue formatting in English is the worst, and my poor lil French heart hates it. This is un-beta'd, so don't hesitate to comment if there are any mistakes still remaining. Hope you enjoy !

Damen said it soon after they reunited. After he was healed, and Laurent had settled in Vere, and he in Akielos, and his lover had come to stroll the gardens of his mother's summer place with him, as they had evoked before they lost and won everything at the same time.  
  
He said it after Laurent had made him laugh, the words escaping without him even noticing. It only occured to him, what he had said, when he cast his gaze back on Laurent and saw he had gone very still, his eyes a bit wider, his lips slightly parted around the words he had been going to pronounce.  
  
It only took a fraction of time for the King of Vere to school his expression back, putting on the mask of controlled indifference Damen wasn't used to seeing anymore. Something in his chest churned. Laurent resumed talking, as if nothing had happened, but there was an edge to him, his back stiff, his eyes not quite meeting Damen's.  
  
And Damen wondered suddenly whether he had ruined everything for them. The hard gained trust, the underlying complicity, the small smiles and the tender embraces. All of it ruined with those three little words he had dared to utter. Maybe it was too soon, the King of Vere not quite ready, or maybe Laurent never thought it'd come to that. Maybe it was just him, all along. Even though they'd spoken of a marriage, of Laurent's bloodline ending with him.  
  
"We should go for a ride," Laurent said.  
  
Damen followed.  
  
The first hour went by in uncomfortable silence, Laurent trotting ahead on his grey mare, and Damen could see his fists slowly closing and opening on his reins, his knuckles turning white. Once. Twice. He quickly lost count.  
  
They stopped in a clearing by a stream, the weather hot on Damen's skin, and probably hotter on Laurent's, who was wearing Veretian closing. He had slightly opened the laces on the front of his jacket, and Damen could see one of his collarbones, a figment of milky skin picking underneath an immaculate shirt.  
  
Laurent bathed in the sun as if he were a god, from times long forgotten. Damen couldn't look anywhere else. It was as if only the man in front of him mattered, only he existed. And as the King of Vere turned his head towards him, a smirk grazing his lips, and then straddled his lap, laying him on the grass, kissing him fiercely, he still couldn't tear his gaze away from him. But the happiness on Laurent's face was shadowed by the doubt that crept in his eyes.  
  
Still, Laurent didn't say the words.

  


*

  


It was three days later, and Laurent had been avoiding him.  
  
It took Damen all he had not to seek him out. He knew how Laurent worked, or at least he thought he did. He needed time for himself, time to think everything through, even if what he was thinking through was his relationship with Damen. It didn't make it any easier.  
  
Time was flying by, and soon they would have to rejoign their respective kingdoms, and yet Laurent wasn't showing up. So Damen had taken to training, to keep both the anger and the anxiety at bay. He had improvised a fighting area in one of the courtyards of his mother's summer palace, striking the dummy again and again until it was turned to shreds.  
  
His muscles were aching, and his head was clear, until he stopped and thoughts of Laurent came back at him. He groaned. Dropped to his knees, letting go of his sword, breathing heavily, putting the palms of his hands against his closed eyelids. He was being ridiculous.  
  
The sound of walking against the sand. He raised his head, wary with exhaustion.  
  
"You're not as in shape as you once were."  
  
A smirk tugged on Laurent's lips. He extended his hand to Damen, who took it, restraining himself from collapsing right back into Laurent's warmth. He had missed it. All of it. The dry sarcasm, the fleeting touches, the feel of silk against him while Laurent's words bite into his skin. Only three days, and he was already starved.  
  
"Come inside. I'll attend you." The statement was supposed to be playful, but Damen had to stiffle a pained moan, the teasing getting to him as effectively as a knife to the heart. And yet he followed, obeying Laurent's order as if it were second nature.  
  
The baths were in pure Akielon style, simple and yet imposing, the tiles reflecting the outside light on Damen's dark skin, giving it golden undertones. They were alone.  
  
Tentatively, Laurent came behind Damen. In one swift motion, he had unpinned the chiton. It pooled on the floor, around Damen's ankle and sandaled feet. Damen went to untie the laces around his calves. Suddenly, he felt Laurent's fingers trail on his scars. He went very still.  
  
The touch was barely there, like a feather on his skin, and yet he felt as if he were burning up. Laurent's lips came to join his fingers, and he startled. Each kiss on the marks was an apology in disguise, a vow to do better by him. Damen could feel Laurent's uneven breath on his back, his fingers slightly trembling. Struggling for control. And then the pale hands crept back up to his shoulders, a firm grip on him. Damen hadn't moved one inch.  
  
The massage was both stilted and passionate, Laurent alternating between rough movements and soothing ones. He moved as he talked, with a balance hard to maintain. The gesture was an echo of the past, of the day when trust had been starting to build up between them, slowly but surely.  
  
A sigh. Strangely, it wasn't coming from Damen, but from Laurent. The King of Vere stopped his ministrations, and dropped his hands to his own body, unlacing his jacket with cold efficacity. It joined Damen's chiton on the floor. He then discarded his shirt and pants with the same rapidity, and went straight for the water. Once inside, it barely came to his hips, and Damen had to restrain himself from looking anywhere else other than Laurent's face. And even his face was dangerous. He gave Damen a levelled gaze, as if beckoning him to join him in the water, which the King of Akielos did without second thoughts.  
  
Surprisingly, he saw Laurent taking a cup from the side of the pool, filling it with water, and coming towards him. Once again, he stopped moving, barely breathing, waiting to see what Laurent was to do. And then Laurent was behind him, wetting his hair with gentle motions, making sure to protect his eyes and to get to every strand. Damen's heart swelled.  
  
And suddenly, Laurent was talking, breaking the silence: "Do you remember that time you said that if you gave me your heart, I would treat it tenderly ?" He had also gone still, and Damen could hear the strain in his voice, the uncertainty. When he turned around, he saw Laurent's arms were around himself, and his eyes were downcast.  
  
"I do," Damen said. He meant every word of it then, and still did now.  
  
"You did give it to me. And yet I failed you."  
  
The disappointment was clear in Laurent's eyes, and the vulnerability he showed was as Damen had rarely seen before. There was no trace of his usual control, of the layers of deception he usually wore. He was letting Damen see him, as true as he could be, and Damen couldn't breathe, couldn't speak.  
  
It took seconds, minutes maybe, before he dared to move, his hand meeting Laurent's cheek, embracing its curve, his eyes saying all he couldn't say, giving away everything he felt, holding nothing back.  
  
The kiss was slow, Laurent pushing on his feet to get to Damen's height, capturing his mouth in between his with trembling lips, his breath and bones shaky with the admission.  
  
"I love you."  
  
Laurent's whisper brushed against Damen's lips, and completely knocked the breath out of him. But Laurent kept kissing him, and he regained his footing, and kissed back with all he had, moaning "I love you"s in between breath, again and again and again, until he wasn't sure who was talking anymore.

  


*

  


Later, they were huddled together in bed, naked.  
  
"I was thinking," Laurent said, hesitation in his voice.  
  
"You're always thinking," Damen said fondly.  
  
He got a hard stare in return, but Laurent's features softened almost instantly. He was silent for a minute, eyes looking at nothing and hands idly running on the covers. "Maybe we could go to Marlas. Rule there, together."  
  
Damen turned his head so fast he almost broke his own neck. His eyes were wide, his mouth slightly open. "What … are you saying ?"  
  
Uneasiness spread in Laurent, and his jaw clenched. "I …"  
  
It was rare, for Laurent, to have nothing to say. Damen waited, patiently, giving time to his lover to gather his thoughts and start talking again. "We could make it one kingdom again. We could rebuild Marlas, and have our marriage held there."  
  
It was Laurent. Damen should have known a marriage proposal wouldn't come in the usual way, but he'd never thought there wouldn't even be a proposal. And yet he smiled, putting back an unruly strand of hair behind Laurent's ear. "And what makes you think I'd agree to marrying you ?" Damen said, teasing.  
  
"Please, you've been dreaming about marrying me since our first kiss, maybe even before that." Laurent's deadpan delivery was nuanced by the private smile he wore, even as Damen's hand came to his own chest, mimicking offense.  
  
"One kingdom in Marlas sounds nice," said Damen, and he kissed Laurent on the lips, slowly.


End file.
